A FASA Meeting

[minor muppetz]

It was the day of an important FASA meeting. By the way, for thsoe who haven't seen The Muppets at Walt Disney World, FASA is "Ficticious Animal Stars of Amercia".

Anyway, Miss Piggy had jnust become a member of FASA, and was so excited to go to her first meeting.

"Oh, Kermie, moi am finally a FASA member!", said Kermit.

"Well, all you've got to do is be a star", said Kermit, "They rarely discriminate against animal stars".

"Who have they discrimianted agaisnt?", asked Piggy.

"Well, Barney the Dinosaur, for one", said Kermit.

Kermit then looked aroudn and saw Big Bird and Bear.

"Oh, hi, Big Bird. Hi, Bear", said Kermit.

"Hi, Kermit", said Big Bird.

"Hello", said Bear.

"They are members?", askeed Miss Piggy.

"Of cours ethey are", said Kermit.

"I hear that this is going to be an important meeting", said Big Bird.

"They all are important meetings", said Bear.

"Well, this meeting is most important because it's moi's first meeting", said Piggy.

"Hey, here's Alvin, Simon, and Theodore", said Kermit, "Hi, chipmunks!"

"Hi, Kermit!", said the Chipmunks.

"I hope this meeting is fast", said Alvin, "I'd rather be performing".

"Meetings are important, Alvin", said Simon.

"And so is food", said Theodore.

"Oh, will there be lots of food?", asked Miss Piggy.

"If we get there soon there will be", said Kermit.

At the meeting area...

"Well, let's hope for this meeting to be a great one", said Mickey Mouse.

"I'll find myself a seat", said Minnie Mouse.

"There is plenty of honey, right?", asked Winnie the Pooh.

Tweety flew in.

"I hope I made it right on time", said Tweety.

Ren and Stimpy then showed up.

"Oh, I tawt I taw a putty tat!", said Tweety.

"Duh, a putty tat? Where?", asked Stimpy.

"You're the putty tat, you stupid eediot!", shouted Ren.

Brian Griffin then showed up.

"Well, where's the alcohol?", joked Brian.

"You know there is no alcohol here", laughed Mickey.

"Woof woof wof woof!", barked Brian, who calmly restarined himself, "Oh, sorry, sory, I get that racism from my father."

He then turned around and saw Sylvester, and barked uncontrolably at him.

"Oh, sorry, sorry", said Brian.

Donald Duck and Daffy Duck then shwoed up.

"Oh, it's you again", said Donald.

"You're despicable", said Daffy.
"Oh, yeah?", quakced an angry Donald.

"You're the onyl go0od thing about duck season", said Daffy.

Donald then kicked Daffy in the butt.

A roll of dirt came into the meeting, and Bugs then popped out.

"Well here I am at the FASA meeting!", said Bugs, "And for once I remembered to take that left toin at albequrque.

Kermit, Miss Piggy, Big Bird, and Bear then arrived.

"Well, here we are", said Kermit.

"And what a great place", said Miss Piggy, "It's filled with other superstars, including Porky Pig".

"Oh, hi, Miss P-p-p-p-Piggy!", said Porky, "I've always w-w-wanted to m-m-m-m- be introduced to you".

"Oh, the pleasure is all mine", said Miss Piggy.

Mr. Ed then showed up.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't a pig", said Mr. Ed.

"For your information, I am Miss Piggy"

"And I'm Mr. Ed", said Mr. Ed, "And I'm stil sore for not ever being a guest star on The Mupet Show".

"I don't think any of the animal stars here have been", said Miss Piggy.

"Well, except for me", said Big Bird.

"And what's up with that, Kermit?", asked Daffy Duck.

"Well...", said Kermit.

"We should have been guest stars", interrupted Alvin.

"I would have been better than those Mummenshanz!", said Donald.

"Hey, wait a minute", said Kermit, "I asked you to be a guest during the first season, and you weren't interested".

"And why werne't me or Rocky ever considered to be guests?", asked Bullwinkle?

"Don't you remember, Bullwinkle?", asked Rocky, "We didn't want to be on a pupet show?"

"Oh, yeah", said Bullwinkle.

"What do you mean 'puppet show'?", asked Miss Piggy.

"Oh, the meeting is about to start", said Lamb Chop.

"I hope I don't miss this", said Topo Gigio.

"W-w-well, it's-it's-it's time to st-st-st-begin the meeting", said Pokry Pig.

"Everybody sit down", said Mickey Mouse, "I'll take roll call."

"Big Bird"

"Here!"

"Bugs Bunny"

"Here, doc"

"Daffy Duck"

"Here"

"Donald Duck"

"Here"

"Minnie Mouse"

"You know I'm here"

"Mr. Ed"

"Here"

"Lamp Chop"

"Here"

"Rocket J. Squirrell, aka Rocky"
"here"

"Bullwinkle J. Moose"

"Here"

"Ren Hoek"

"Here"

"Stimpson J. Cat, aka Stimpy"

"Here"

"Sylvester"

"Here"

"Tweety"

"Here"

"Kermit the Frog"

"Here"

"Topo Gigio"

"Here"

"Foghorn Leghorn"

"here, I SAY, Here!"

"Alvin Seville"

"here"

"Simon Seville"

"Here"

"Theodore Seville"

"Here"

"Winnie the Pooh"

"Here"

"Bear"

"Here"

"Brian Griffin"

"Here"

"Snoopy"

Snoopy raised his hand.

"Lassie"

"Bark!"

"Fliper"

Flipper got out of a tank and made dolphin sounds.

"And our newest member, Miss Piggy"

"Here"

"Okay, everyone is here. We'll start the meeting in the next post".

 

[minor muppetz]

chapter 2

"And now, let's start the meeting", said Mickey Mouse.

"Who's the leader of our club that's made for you and me?", sung everybody.

"M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E"

"Enough!", said Miss Piggy, "This is my first day!

"I agree", said Daffy Duck, "You should all be singing about me".

"Hiiiiya!", said Miss Piggy as she karate chopped Daffy.

"I-i-is something wrong, Miss Piggy?", asked Porky Pig.

"This is my first meeting, and I think I should get a proper introductory song", said Miss Piggy.

"Uh, it doens't work that way here", said Kermit.

"Though we could always use more musical numbers", said Brian Griffin.

"But first I would like to say something", said Alvin.

"The chairman, that's me, recognizes Alvin Seville", said Mickey Mouse.

"Well, if you don't recognize me by now you must have been living in a cave", said Alvin.

"Oh, brother", moaned Mr. Ed.

"I for one would like to sue Universal for hiring amatures to portray me and my brothers in our movie", said Alvin.

"I agree", said Simon, "If this keeps up, all of us will be played by bad actors".

"You said it, Simon", said Theodore.

"I just hope that nobody makes a movie about me", said Mr. Ed.

"Well, I should be thankful that I've always been played by myself in movies", said Kermit.

"So have I", said Big Bird.

"Now, Family Guy is another story", said Kermit, who looked at Brian Griffin, giving a scrunched-up face.

"But this meeting should be about my first meeting", said Miss Piggy.

"Stop complainning", said Minnie Mouse, "At least you've had more interesting things to do on camera".

"Minnie, I had no idea that you've been unhappy being a co-star", said Mickey.

"Well, I have", said Minnie.

"Okay, well, everybody in favor of Minnie Mouse having her own starring role raise a hand and say 'aye'".

Everybody except for Miss Piggy and Donbald Duck raised their hands and said "Aye".

"And I would like to find more work, too", said Lamb Chomp.

"Many of us would", said Stimpy.

"Speaking of that, we'd like to have the right to sue Spike TV for putting us in that awful adult series".

"I agree", said Brian.

"The only good that show did was allow me to play with naked women", said Ren.

"Well, while I hated that show too", said Mickey, "I think you've requested to sue Spike TV way too many times. Case dismissed, for the 27th time".

"Oh bother", said Winnie the Pooh.

"And be-be-besides, you should be thankful just for reruns of your show to be shown", said Porky, "My cartoons aren't rerun nearly enough".

"Yeah, it stinks having to rely just on DVD residuals", said Daffy.

"But Daffy, DVD residuals are more than television residuals", said Bugs Bunny.

"Man, this meting is getting weird", said Mr. Ed.

"Yes, we are fictional animal stars of america", said Kermit.

"And I'm mexican", said Ren.

"Isn't that why Speedy Gonzales and Pepe le Pew aren't members?", asked Sylvester.

"And aren't we forgetting that this is moi's first meeting?", asked Miss Piggy.

"No, we're not", said Kermit.

"But the meeting's almost over", said Brian Griffin.

"Already?", asked Miss Piggy.

"There isn't much to talk about in this meeting", said Mr. Ed.

"And I can't decide whether I'd rather chase Mickey Mouse or Big Bird", said Sylvester.

"Uh, well, I'm not very healthy", claimed Big Bird.

"Order! I say, order! Order, that is", said Foghorn Leghorn.

"Man, this meeting is getting out of hand", said Miss Piggy.

"By the way, I'd like to nominate my best friend Mr. Snuffleupagus for membership", said Big Bird.

"For the last time, there is no such thing as a Snuffleupagus!", said Daffy Duck.

"Yes, there is", said Big Bird, "And I've had plenty of witnesses since 1985".

"And when am I getting my pay check?", asked Foghorn.

"I think we should all go on strike", said Donald Duck.

"And I think you should be shot on duck season", said Daffy.

"Man, this is getting out of hand", said Miss Piggy, who walked out, "I'm gonna just leave right now".

Many of the other members started arguing.

"Good grief", said Mickey Mouse, "Another meeting has gotten out of hand. Meeting is adjourned".

Mickey then hit a gavel at the podeum and ran out.

"Th-th-that's all, folks!", said Porky Pig.

And it is, even though everyone is still arguing and fighting.

Th-th-th-that's all, folks!

 

[RedPiggy]

Haha ... well, as sparse as it is ... there are some good interactions there... reminds me of some of the better crossover scenes in Roger Rabbit.

Instead of having such a long roll call, though, I would've kept it summarized until you got to those who responded differently. That way, I'm not scrolling forever just to get back to the plot.

I realize this is supposed to be, uh, rather light ... but you do rely way too much on dialogue to sell the characters' personalities, especially since no one talks for very long at a time. Instead of devoting half a screen to roll call, Porky's seeming crush on Piggy could have been further developed, as well as Minnie vs Piggy (which had a lot of potential). It was nice how you continued the Daffy vs Donald joke from WFRR.

You wouldn't have to sacrifice the others' interactions (though, you could, and have someone whine about how yet again they're being dumped off into the background).

So, all in all, a great concept but could use a little development.

 

[minor muppetz]

Yeah, I thought this up recently, showing what a FASA meeting might be like. Maybe the mistake was just wanting to cover one meeting. Or maybe I should have had it lead to an adventure of some sort. Since this is a Muppet forum then I tried to have a bit of Muppet presence, so I made it Miss Piggy's first meeting, and had the first scene hevaily feature Henson creations. Maybe I should have put in more Muppet members. I had considered including Fozzie and Gonzo as members, but chose not to (and I debated over whether the Fictional Animal Stars of America should include animals of ficticious species, like monsters or aliens).

The big roll call was to show who some of the members who don't otherwise have any significance in the plot were, though it really wasn't much. And maybe it wasn't realistic to have Brian Griffin (in addition to Ren and Stimpy) become a member before Miss Piggy.

And there are some who I thought of including, but didn't. These characters include Darkwing Duck, Rocco (of Rocco's Modern Life), Tigger, and some of the supporting characters from Taz-Mania.

Oh, and in fan fic it is sometimes hard to write visual gags or descriptions of stuff. Especially when you're trying to describe something, but don't know what it's actually called. So in fan fic it might be best to be dialogue-heavy, unless you can upload images of the scenes described as well.

But feel free to write a similar fan fic of your own.

 

[RedPiggy]

Don't misunderstand me -- I loved it. You could make a series out of it. The cast of characters was great (Mr. Ed was kind of a surprise ... just be glad I'm old enough (barely) to know who that is ). The plot was appropriate and realistic. You just know Piggy would want to make the meeting all about her, despite many characters being around far longer than she ever has (Looney Tunes and Mickey and Minnie definitely have Piggy beat when it comes to senority).

You don't always have to know what something is called to add description. Maybe the characters don't know what it's called either! (and that's how you get around that!)

Was Mickey wearing a suit, something casual, his trademark red short shorts? Was Bugs chain-snacking on carrots? Was there a twinkle in Porky's eye when he met Piggy (to compare with Piggy's when she sees Kermit)? Was Minnie pouting or frowning when she admitted hating being a co-star? That's the kind of thing I meant ... I don't mean you have to know what kind of sock Lamb Chop is made of or anything.

This might have been slightly more effective in terms of the roll call:

"Everybody, let's sit down," Mickey announced cheerfully. "I'll call out roll," he noted as he whipped out a PDA...

"Minnie?"

Minnie crossed her arms, rolling her eyes. "You know I'm here."

"Eh-heh, right," Mickey replied nervously. He continued by calling out Mr. Ed, Winnie the Pooh, Topo Gigio, Lamb Chop, and Sylvester.

"Here," they replied in turn, anxious to get on with it.

"Good," Mickey said. He continued, "Alvin, Simon, and Theodore Seville?"

"Who are they?" asked Stimpy with a dazed look on his face, his bright blue tongue flopping around.

"They're the chipmunks, stupid," replied the chihuahua, Ren, beside him. "You know," he continued, scatting the rest of the theme song, leading to chuckles from the crowd.

"Well, I see Ren and Stimpy are here," Mickey noted, sighing. "Let's move along, shall we?" He continued to call Big Bird, Daffy, Donald. They affirmed their presence. Mickey looked hard for Tweety, who could sometimes get lost among the larger characters. Sylvester was bouncing the little yellow bird in his paws. "Sylvester, please leave Tweety alone."

"Yeah, Sylvie ... stop flippin' the bird!" Ren howled, doubling over in laughter.

"Well, I don't think that was a very nice thing to say," noted Big Bird, innocently with a slight air of offense.

"Let's move on!" Mickey proceeded, clearing his throat. "Foghorn Leghorn?"

"Here, I say, here, son!" said the southern rooster.

"Bugs Bunny?"

The sounds of crunching carrots filled the room. "Here, doc."

Mickey finished off the list, calling off Brian Griffin, Snoopy (who silently raised his hand), Flipper (who squealed and chittered from his tank in the back of the room), and Piggy, the organization's newest member.

See? Not only does that cut down some on the length, but it breaks up the monotony by introducing some characters through dialogue first, not the roll call. It also provides some more characterization opportunities. I didn't go into a great deal of description, but it does flow a little better and allows the reader to see a little more of what's going on. A room full of these characters should have stuff going on ... ignoring it is a wasted opportunity.

 

[minor muppetz]

I wonder if one of the problems is having it be a meeting, as opposed to maybe a FASA-sponsored event. I wonder if organizations like this would normaly have meetings for all of it's members. And I guess that an organization for fictional animal starts would have more members as well.

In The Muppets at Walt Disney World, it's pretty clear that Kermit is the only Muppet (at least the only one who was onthe trip) who was a member. The other Muppets act surprised to know that Kermit knew Mickey because of their membership.

Oh, and all of the members were wearign what they were best known for wearing, so Mickey was just wearing his shorts, gloves, and shoes. It's hard to determine what outfit Miss Piggy wore, since she doens't have a rgular outfit. Ditto with the hair style (but it's definately not her 1980s perm).

There are a lot of characters I should have included. I should have had some animal mascots (like the Taco Bell dog and Tony the Tiger) be members. I should have included some video game characters, like Sonic the Hedgehog, Donkey Kong, and Yoshi. Maybe I should have also included the Cat in the Hat, though it might be debatable as to whether he'd have appeared in his animated form, his live action movie form (I'm referring to The Cat in the Hat movie, not In Search of Dr. Seuss), or his pupet form. Or I could think outside the box and have him resemble his illustarted book form.

All of the members who originated in aniamtion apeared in their animated forms. Ditto with Winnie the Pooh and Snoopy, who originated as illustrated characters. Obviously all pupets appeared in puppet form, and all live animals appeared as live animals (though I don't know what color the horse who played Mr. Ed was, so I'll just assume he was white). And the Chipmunks are presented to look like they did in the 1980s and 1990s, as opposed to their original designs, their Alvin Show-era designs, or their CGI designs.

 

[minor muppetz]

Maybe this would make a better list of members, grouping by project:

Muppets

• Kermit the Frog
• Miss Piggy
• Fozzie Bear
• Gonzo (maybe)
• Rizzo the Rat
• Sam the Eagle
• Animal (maybe)
• Camillia
• Rowlf
• Bear

Sesame Street

• Big Bird
• Oscar the Grouch (maybe)
• Elmo (maybe)
• Cookie Monster (maybe)
• Grover (maybe)
• Herry Monster (maybe)

Disney

• Mickey Mouse
• Minnie Mouse
• Donald Duck
• Daisy Duck
• Goofy
• Pluto
• Pete
• Chip 'n Dale (in their Rescue Ranger's incarnations)
• Huey, Duey, and Louie
• Scrooge McDuck
• Jimminy Crickett
• Professor Owl
• Ludwick von Drake
• Dumbo
• Balloo the Bear
• Darkwing Duck

Winnie the Pooh

• Winnie the Pooh
• Tigger
• Piglett
• Eeyore
• Rabbit
• Kanga and Roo
• Owl
• Gopher

Looney Tunes

• Bugs Bunny
• Daffy Duck
• Porky Pig
• Sy;vester
• Tweety
• Foghorn Leghorn
• Road Runner
• Wile E. Coyotie
• Tasmanian Devil
• Pepe le Pew
• Speedy Gonzales
• Cool Cat
• Hubie and Bertie
• Ralph Wolf
• Sam Sheepdog
• The Three Bears
• The Goofy Gophers

(oh, and no Lola. Sorry, Lola)

Tiny Toons

• Buster Buny
• Babs Bunny
• Plucky Duck
• Hampton

Taz-Mania

• Buddy Boar
• Didgery Dingo
• The Platypus Brothers

Rocky and Bullwinkle

• Rocky
• Bullwinkle
• Mr. Peabody

Others

• The Cat in the Hat
• Mr. Ed
• Lassie
• Brian Griffin
• Topo Gigio
• Lamb Chop
• Woody Woodpecker
• Flipper
• Trix Rabbit
• Tom and Jerry
• Droopy
• Taco Bell Dog
• The Geico Gecko (though I don't care much for him)
• Tony the Tiger
• Sony the Cocoa Puffs Bird

And to think.. If Miss Piggy is upset that her first meeting wasn't all about her, then who knows what Daffy Duck's first meeting would have been like.

I also wonder if my fan fic needed a musical nubmer.

 

[RedPiggy]

A typical meeting is a good introduction, though. Like I said, this deserves an entire series. With such a roster (which I absolutely ADORE), some scenarios almost write themselves. You know one possibility to keep from flooding a chapter/episode/post/whatever with characters? Divide it by region (as if there were regions) or star-level (founding mascots, etc), maybe devote a couple of meetings/events to a particular franchise. That's basically what X-Men and other team stories do when their rosters are technically immense. Have both meetings, events, etc ... just to keep it from getting stale.

Some scenarios that pop into my head:

-- generation gap-type conflicts
-- should video game characters be included? if present members are also in video game characters, is it hypocritical not to admit, say Sonic and DK?
-- supporting characters trying to feel as though they are just as beloved as the "stars" (Daffy, Donald, Plucky, and other characters are real good for this, as well as more obscure characters)
-- tributes to deceased/retired creators/members
-- mocking commercialism
-- is it ethical to have ... uh ... rowdy conversations among the Sesame Street and Tiny Toons crowds, since many are just kids?